I should have known

Yes hindsight is a good thing. Too bad I have done this 'mistake' a few times, when will I ever learn??

What have I done? Easy, I didn't pretend that China is great, Chinese people are wonderful, that I am Pro China. Every time I give my opinion, and it is a very watered down one told very tactfully, I get abuse.

The longer I stay here the more I realize that they are 'brainwashed' to some degree to believe that everything about their country is great. They grow up being force fed to believe these things, and to not dispute them. I understand that ones country is important, but the difference is if in the West, you don't like something be that the government, your job, a person etc. you can freely say so. Here, if it has anything to do with China, Chinese people, the government the only thing you can say is "how great it is."

I teach a class on Saturday afternoon, on my own time, with no pay because I believe the students need it. I have no problem giving my time like this for anything. We were discussing how from my point of view Chinese teachers abuse their power, and that Chinese students don't really respect their teachers, they more than likely fear them. A lot of the students agreed with these statements, and I went on to give many examples I have heard, or dealt with personally.

We then get side tracked a little, and talk about me, and my opinion about the country. Now I have been verbally abused by Chinese people because I'm different. I have been treated badly because I'm a foreigner. I have more stories about problems/bad situations than I do about good things. I was discussing these situations with the students, and one student asked me "name some good things about China." I had to think for a moment, and I did give various examples. Because I didn't name 1 billion reasons, and had far fewer than the bad examples, the student decided to argue with me. Not a problem, I don't mind debating or anything like that in fact, I relish it.

They are not used to being allowed to say these things or hearing these things. Mind I think sometimes they get angry because it is the truth, and they know it personally, but they don't like foreigners telling them their downfalls. So for telling them that I've had not so nice experiences, I get told that I should "change my thinking." I'm the one that is abused for simply being me, therefore I must change because it is my fault.

Just because I don't tell 1 billion happy stories doesn't mean to say that everything in China is bad, they don't seem to understand that concept. Apparently I should only be telling good stories. I apparently have to stop thinking about the bad things, and only think of the good things. If I did that, I'd have about 6 things to think about (if that!), but yet while I think about these 6 things while walking down the street I have people talking about me, staring at me, pointing at me, discussing how fat I am, sneering at me, or spitting in my direction (they do that a lot because they know foreigners hate it).

What really gets me is that I'm the one at fault, and gets yelled at because of how badly I've been treated. I have to defend myself repeatedly in this situation, and I'm getting tired of doing it. So I'm not going to give my opinion anymore, what's the point? I'm just going to be yelled at, told to change my thinking, and having people offer me things such as videos etc to watch to help out on that point.

I guess the old adage of "the truth hurts" actually does, because if it didn't I think I wouldn't have to defend myself quite so frequently.